1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video signal processor and video signal processing method and more particularly to a technique suitable for processing a stereoscopic video signal made up of left and right two channel signals and dual link video signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
A stereoscopic video signal adapted to display a stereoscopic image on a display device includes a left channel video signal, i.e., an image for the left eye, and a right channel video signal, i.e., an image for the right eye. The left and right channel video signals are displayed simultaneously on the same display surface and processed in such a manner that the user's left and right eyes can selectively view the images, thus allowing for the user to perceive the images stereoscopically.
In order to obtain such a stereoscopic video signal, two video camcorders are normally used that are positioned one on the left and another on the right with some spacing therebetween for shooting. Although one-piece camcorders for stereoscopic shooting have come along, even in this case, the camcorders include an imaging section corresponding to two video camcorders to separately obtain left and right channel video signals.
On the other hand, a new video signal standard has been recently proposed as a technique completely different from stereoscopic display. In this standard, the number of pixels making up a frame has been significantly increased. For example, a video signal called a so-called 4K image is proposed. Offering an ultrahigh resolution of 4096 pixels across and 2160 pixels down per frame, this video signal is on its way to becoming commercialized, for example, for movies shown in movie theaters.
This video signal with an ultrahigh resolution contains an extremely large amount of data, requiring an extremely high transmission rate to transmit the video signal as it is. Therefore, the video signal is split into at least two paths for transmission. That is, the source and destination devices are connected by two cables, for example, in the dual link HD-SDI standard. Then, the video signal of each frame is divided into two paths for each horizontal line. The divided video signal of one path is transmitted by one cable, and the video signal of the other path by the other cable. The two paths of video signals received on the receiving side are combined and restored to the original 4K image or other video signal with an ultrahigh resolution.
As described above, splitting a video signal into two paths approximately halves the transmission rate for each path, thus ensuring proper transmission of video signals with an ultrahigh resolution.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-369219 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses the addition of an identification code for discrimination to each of two paths of video signals if a single video signal is split into two paths of video signals for transmission.